April 17, 2010

Q: John, do you think Tyler Flowers will have any significant transition problems as the White Sox catcher next year, or is he good to go? Would he be a productive major-leaguer already if not for the succession plan the club seems to have him on?

A: He could use more Triple-A time to finish the defensive polish and just see more breaking balls as a hitter, so I don’t mind him being back in the minors. I don’t think it will hurt him.

“It’s not Greg Walker’s fault. (Bleep) it. I’m not going to fire a guy that has nothing to do with this thing. Look at (Mark) Kotsay, (Omar) Vizquel and (Jayson) Nix, they don’t need a hitting coach. They need to (bleeping) get hits. … Two things I keep saying this and I always do this. As long as my coaches go out there and work and give the guys the information, that’s all you can do. If you have kids — (Dayan) Viciedo, (Jordan) Danks and (Tyler) Flowers — that’s a little different.”

Does Walker start before 9 in the morning?

“Greg Walker is here every day at 8 in the morning watching videos, getting the information. He talks to them about hitting. Juan Pierre (has) 2,000 at-bats or more. (Gordon) Beckham and (Carlos) Quentin, they don’t need a hitting coach. It’s a matter of time when they start hitting. If we have different players, then we need to teach them. Those guys, I don’t think any guy in this lineup needs a teacher or know how to handle the big leagues.”

What can be wrong Ozzie?

“There’s too much freaking information in baseball now. There’s too many (bleeping) guys on the computer. It’s simple. I say that. Pete Rose never watched a computer. Rod Carew never did. All those hitters, they go out and see the ball, hit it and move on.”